Frozen water balloons

Last week when we experienced the "Polar Vortex" and had the extreme cold, the boys and I experimented with frozen water balloons. We did this last year, but they wanted to do it again and with the extreme cold this worked well. 

We started with regular balloons, food coloring and water.  You do need to be careful that once your water balloon is filled that you carefully hold the throat of the balloon down low and add the coloring. Then grab the throat at the end and massage the coloring down into the balloon. Then tie off the balloon. We then took them out side and sat them on the porch where the cats won't bother them and let them there at least 24 hours. It does take some time for them to freeze. We have found that the balloons sometimes will break when the balloon is completely frozen. But we then take our frozen orbs and line the sidewalk and enjoy some beautiful color with our snow. These almost look like large glass paperweights - they are very cool!

Garrett with his long frozen water balloon

This one had a hole in the middle- like a bowling ball

Frog and Toad Indentification

Tonight the boys found some frogs that we have been listening too for several weeks. They have been around our swimming pool area, so tonight the boys decided it was time to catch them. Garrett started with 1, then I found 1 (Robert caught it) and then Gary found 1. The boys then decided that they would see how many more they could locate. It ended up that we have 5, but their calls were unusual. The chirp for a while and then they sound like a turkey call. So we wanted to know what they were. To the compute we went!!   We checked out this website http://www.paherps.com/ and http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/frogquiz/index.cfm

Both websites were pretty cool as the have sound clips that you can compare the calls to. After listening to a good number of frog/toad calls- we have determined that we have Eastern Gray Tree frogs.  This has been a fun and interesting evening just listening to all the different types of frogs/toads and their songs. But now we can all go to bed now knowing what is outside on our porch in the small aquarium. Tomorrow we will relocate them to the bigger pond!
This is one of the pictures from the website. I'll see if I can get my own tomorrow.

Planning on Spring

Okay, I agree if you look out my window (um snow blowing, sleeting, cold wintry weather) you would not be thinking spring, but a cup of hot chocolate.  But here we spent some time looking at the seed catalogs and planning the garden. We have ordered some seeds and have soil in the basement. The table is up and soon we will be ready to start some seeds. We had some seeds left over from last year and are checking their germination times to see if the seeds are still good.  This is something that is kind of fun for the kids to help with. Take a plate and a paper towel. We used a 6" Styrofoam plate. Wet your paper towel and lay it on your plate. Lay your seeds on top and slide into a plastic Ziploc style bag and set in a warm location.  in several days your seeds should have germinated and you will see signs of life. And actually you have created a little greenhouse.

Stay warm and safe!

Frozen "Marbles"

Okay, with the extreme cold that we have had recently , it seemed like a great time to try the "Frozen Marbles" that I have seen on Pintrest. Well yesterday morning, the boys had a little time and we grabbed the balloons and food coloring. I hadn't shown them what the outcome was, just said that we were doing a science experiment while they were are school. We actually tried this 2 different ways. First we filled the balloon and then added the food coloring. Worked great for balloon number 1, but number 2- well let's say we had blue water EVERYWHERE! So we then put the food coloring into the balloon and then added water- this seemed to work a bit better.

The boys sat them on the porch swing in the "deep Freeze" at temperatures barely reaching 15 degrees yesterday. When they came home, they were very excited to check them out. But when they went to pick them up- they weren't completely frozen. So we waited over night and this morning they were solid.  We picked them up and peeled the balloon off of them. They are so pretty at this drab, cold time of year that they look very "cheery". So you might want to find ways to use the cold rather than hide from it.

Things that you might want to try:
Have you ever blown bubbles in freezing temperatures? Sometimes it is really cool!
How about which freezes ice cubes faster- the freezer or outdoors?

So how do you use the outdoor cold for fun?

Overnight at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

Last night and today we had the wonderful opportunity to get to spend the night at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. We arrived yesterday as the zoo was closing and moved in. We were welcomed by 4 staff members who guided us through our overnight experiences. The staff brought out several creatures for our group to be introduced too. The we got a behind the scenes tour of the Sea Turtle Research area and the Aquarium. The kids got to play 2 different games including a scavenger hunt through the Aquarium. We then went for a snack and they had a craft for the kids too." I survived the PPG Aquarium Overnighter" pillowcases. We then slept in the education building and then this morning we got up had a simple breakfast meet a few more creatures and then moved our stuff back to our cars. Then we had the whole day at the zoo, to look at whatever we wanted too. Unfortunately, it rained all morning and by about 1pm we had quickly seen most of the zoo, but we were wet and cold and called it a day. But the kids enjoyed the experience. Overnight at the Zoo, animals and fun. What more could you ask for.

2 year old rescued Sea Turtle to possibly be re-released in the fall

1 year old Sea Turtle, still in rehab

Garrett watching the underside of a Sting Ray

An American Alligator that the kids got to meet

2 of Pittsburgh Zoo's Elephants

As I was preparing to go on our trip to the zoo, I found on their website that they have overnighters not only for groups, but also for families. If this sounds good to you, check it out http://www.pittsburghzoo.org/Education/ChildAndFamilyPrograms/WildlifeAcademy. Click on the Family Overnighters in the right hand column to see what is available. We had a great time. (This post is only from our experience and I just wanted to share it with others, your kids might like it too!)

Kids Health Website

I recently found this great website for kids asking health questions. Garrett has to have his tonsils removed and tubes put into his ears on Friday. So I am trying to help answer Garrett's questions but I didn't have the knowledge to explain it to him, so I just did a search for these terms and found this website http://kidshealth.org/kid/ this seems like a great medical website for kids!

This website has a listen feature that then reads the information to you and highlights the words so that the kids can read along. This website makes medical terms simple for a kid to understand and there are diagrams and videos of procedures. There is also games and puzzles like word searches that are specific to the terms or conditions being looked up. This looks like a great kids reference tool and a place to look up information for reports or just about conditions that they may be hearing about. Hope you get a chance to take a look and share it with your kids!

Northern Lights

The night before last, I had a phone call around 9:15- "Go outside and look at the sky!" When I went out of the porch, I saw the most beautiful red in the night sky that I had ever seen. I ran back inside and got Gary and Robert up to come see this awesome display of the Northern Lights that I had ever seen!! EVER!!!!! It lasted about 15 minutes and then faded away, but what a way to remember that God is in control and he is still doing amazing things everyday, if we only take time to look for it! Boy am I glad for that phone call, or I would have missed it! We have an awesome God!

Leaf Collage

With the turn of the seasons, and upcoming 5th Grade Leaf Project, our house spent some time on Friday night out in the woods looking at leaves. We had the chance to observe how different in shape, size and color the leaves are. Not only that but we also looked at how big or little the trees were. As Robert was identifying leaves with his tree book for the ones that he need for the leaf collection, Garrett was just looking for unique shapes and sizes and colors of leaves. Both boys came back to the house with leaves but for completely different purposes.

Garrett and I created a leaf collage and 2 simple supplies. Contact Paper and leaves.  I took 1 piece of contact paper, took the paper off and let Garrett place the leaves that he had collected onto the sticky side of the contact paper. I then took another piece of contact paper, cut it to the same size and placed it sticky side towards the leaves. And we now have our Leaf Collage. Currently it is being used as a place mat, but we have also hung it up on the window before for our leaf stain glass. Either way it is a great way to let the kids sort leaves by size or by color or if they are really into it by shape. But not matter what it is a fun fall decoration and a great way to get the kids outside for a fall walk too!

Garrett's broken finger

Okay so it has been a long week!!! A week ago Sunday Garrett accidentally closed his index finger in the car door. Of course he screamed and it swelled up and turned black and blue. I didn't think much of it, but Monday it wasn't looking too good, so we went off to the Dr's. They ordered xrays for Tuesday morning. That was something new for us!! Garrett was a champ through all of this. He held really still, but while we waited he asked all sorts of questions about the camera and what would his x-ray look like. Fortunately, we had a great nurse who let Garrett and Robert look at the actual x-rays up on the light box. They could see how all the bones worked together.
Well, it turned out that on Thursday we got a call that his finger was indeed broken and we needed to go to a specialist. (I was like REALLY?!?!?) But we were scheduled for today with the specialist. So yet another set of x-rays, which this camera, Garrett noticed, was different than the first camera and he was right. This was a digital x-ray camera. So as we waited (a while) he looked around the room and asked questions about the different bones that he could see in the room on the models and we talked about where those bones were in our bodies. On the counter there was a knee, with a torn ligament/tendon(?). He could see how there are 2 bones in our lower legs, but only 1 in the upper leg and how the ligament/ tendon(?) held the knee and leg bones kind of together.
So he has been asking about our skeleton and how the bones all work together.

So if nothing else out of this small injury, we had time to learn a little bit about our bodies. Hopefully, next time we can just learn about it without the injury and maybe have some fun with it instead of pain. But it has really opened up some interesting discussions!

Have a safe summer!!!

Birding for 4-H Project

Well we are in the last stretch for this year's 4-H Project Books as they are due soon!!! So we have some activities that need to be finished up. Today we needed to listen for birds again. We did this a couple of weeks ago in our backyard and found that if we saw the bird we could identify it, but to figure out what it is by sound is much more difficult.

So today we went to the ponds near our house , where there are usually loads of geese. But today we saw maybe 8. We hear a great number of birds, but still can't identify them well by sound. But we did see a hawk and a great blue heron. All very cool. The boys were very excited about seeing these birds.  And the fun part was being able to come home and once again going to the computer to http://www.allaboutbirds.org/ and learning more about them. So go try listening for birds and find out what you can identify. Then open your eyes and see if you can do any better!

Yogurt Parfaits

This morning it seemed way too hot to have a cooked breakfast and cereal didn't seem to fit either. But we have fresh raspberries and I had opened apple pie filling last night. So it was a Yogurt Parfait morning, where the kids had to make their own breakfasts!  plastic cups, vanilla yogurt, raspberries, apple pie filling, and Cherrios and we went to work. The boys could make up their own recipe, layer in those ingredients in any order, they could mix them together or keep them seperate.

Garrett isn't too into raspberries so his was just the apple pie filling, yogurt and cereal. While Robert took the apple pie filling, added raspberries and heated the 2 together  before layering them into the cup with yogurt and cereal. No matter which way they were layered we had a really fun, simple and creative breakfast - and that doesn't happen around here very often (creativity doesn't kick in until I am completely awake!)

This was a great way to start the boys into experimenting with ingredients!

Lego Kids Fest

Do you have a Lego KID? Then you might want to take a look at what is coming to Pittsburgh! The LEGO'S Kids Fest is coming June 17-19th. This looks very cool and exciting and mind blowing of what people can build with Lego's. So here is the information about where and when, just check this link for ticket info and everything else!
http://www.legokidsfest.com/
This might be a fun thing to do with Dad for Father's Day if he is a Lego fan!

Egg Production - Ag Minute

With this week being Easter week, I thought it most appropriate to discuss eggs this month for the Ag. Minute. Eggs are produced from layer hens in several different ways. There are caged hen/layers, there are cage-free hens/layers, there are free range hens and there are organic hens. I will touch on each of these production practices.

Caged hens/layers- these hens are placed usually in pens that house several chickens together. They are then placed in rows and the birds are allowed to roam within the cages. These hens receive feed and clean water on a regular basis.

Cage-free chickens - these hens are kept in large open buildings where they are permitted to roam throughout the "barn." These birds lay their eggs in nesting boxes.

Free range chickens - these chickens are the ones that roam through the barnyards and lawns of owners. They lay their eggs in a location that they feel is safe.

Organic birds - these birds' diet has no pesticides, antibiotics or other chemicals added anywhere along the food chain. They are cage free or free range birds in most locations and are allowed to roam at their own will.

For pictures of several facilities Sauder's from Pennsylvania has a great page with a camera view available under the animal care section, cage-free chickens. Check out more chicken information here: http://www.sauderseggs.com/caged_hens.html

With all the hard boiled eggs that are around, it is a great time to do some egg dissection with the kids that may not be quite as messy. You can compare a cooked egg and an uncooked egg. If you want to know the parts of an egg, check out this worksheet that also provides an answer key. http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/pdfs/eggparts.pdf

To see a brief video about poultry & eggs, check out this You Tube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9rkd36SsI&feature=related This will let you see a little bit of the housing and production.

Oh and don't forget that different breeds of chickens provide different colored eggs. When dying your eggs this year, try a dozen of brown eggs too. They make the colors more intense and deeper in color!

Regardless, we will use a pile of eggs for Easter Egg hunts and decorating them. However you get you eggs Enjoy them this Easter!!!

Agriculture Minute - Maple Syrup Season

Well, it is one of he first sings of spring here at our house, when everyone starts watching the temperatures to see if it goes above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. When the snow starts to melt a little and we start seeing more daylight. This is the beginning of Maple Syrup Season. This year we started on March 1 by tapping a few trees and then we finished up on the morning of March 2.

Tapping trees is a simple process that actually come from the Native Americans, but for my family it comes from my Paw. As a kid, we would go to Paw's and help bring in sap and help tap the trees. We never got to cook down our own sap until all of us became adults. Mom did get a chance to learn from Paw, but we have learned from Mom and from the things that we can remember. Anyhow, we use the plastic tubing and plastic taps. We take a drill and drill bit and drill a hole into the southern side of a maple tree, about 2" deep. You then put the tap in place and use a hammer to "tap" it into place. The tubing is then put into a bucket or jug to catch the sap. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. But we collect the sap in buckets each day and then I cook it down.

Cooking down is fairly simple process until you get to the end. To start we put the strained sap into large kettles and put it on the stove to evaporate the water content of the sap. This involves opening the windows in the house as it gets very humid in the house. People who make sap for more than a hobby , like us, usually have a "Sugar Shack" where they will cook down their syrup because of the humidity.  but we do it in our kitchen with lots of open windows. As it cooks it goes through several different stages. We learned to "Read the Bubbles" which is a very non-scientific way of making syrup. But as you watch the syrup, it is done when it starts to foam up like the reaction of baking soda and vinegar. The syrup will foam up and then it is jarred. We don't sell our syrup, we use it for gifts and for our own use, but it is definitely better than the artificial stuff that you get at the store.
When I get a chance and my computer back, I will try to post a few pictures of our syrup making. Maple Syrup is a large industry in the states of Vermont, Wisconsin, Michigan but there are producers in most of the New England States.

For videos of maple syrup production and different techniques, go to www.youtube.com and search maple syrup production. There are a lot of videos showing different ways to make Maple Syrup. But now you know how we make our syrup!

Fizzle Balls!

At the Community Halloween Party the past 2 years I have had some type of weird science activity for the kids to be involved with. The recipes have come from a book that the boys have called "Kid Concoctions of Bibical Proportions." You can check out the website at www.kidconcoctions.com but we made "Fizzle Stones" (I called them Fizzle Balls) ahead of time with small Halloween prizes inside. These are simple and easy to make. For a small batch take 1/4 cup baking soda and add a little bit of water to make it into a dough. Then take the dough and place a small trinket into the dough and roll or press into a ball. You then need to let these dry overnight. Now once they are dry, Fill a glass or bowl with at least 3 cups of vinegar and let the kids carefully drop in the "Fizzle Balls". The reaction causes the foam to overflow and the trinket will be released from the ball. The kids thought this was great, but let me tell you it took about 8 POUNDS of baking soda to make enough for 100 kids (and we didn't use them all!) But the kids had a great time and it is simple science that can be found in your kitchen! Have fun and don't be afraid to make a mess with the kids - just make sure they help clean up too!!!

Fire Prevention Month and Drills

Okay so I'm a bit behind the ball as LAST week was National Fire Prevention Week, but around my house it becomes all month and it is all firetrucks and firemen around here. But in all seriousness, making sure that everyone knows how to get out of the house and where to go is SO important. Remember that if you ran the drill last year that your children have grown and maybe the youngest will not need help now, but will need to be reminded that he/she needs to crawl out of the house and they may not remember where to go just because of their age. And just because the oldest knows the drill by heart, you need to make sure that the other kids do too.

Something that I saw last year and was terrified by the outcome, was a television show that had the fire alarm go off while children were sleeping. They had hidden cameras in their rooms and their parents sat in a downstairs room. The fire alarm went off and some of the kids never moved! Others thinking it was their alarm, put their heads under their pillows or pulled the covers over their heads!  For several of the families participating in the show, their children would most likely died of smoke because it took over 12 minutes (I think) for their children to get out of bed and mosey to the downstairs.

This bothered me SO much that we had to try it here. To start with I had talked to the boys about what I had seen on TV and how I hoped that they would be able to tall the difference if they were ever in that situation. Then towards the end of the month, when it wasn't on their minds, we planned an evening drill. We had the kids in bed on time on a Saturday night. Then between 9:30 & 10, Gary pushed the fire alarm test button and I timed the boys at getting themselves downstairs. I was relieved that they both had made it downstairs in under 3 minutes. But because of the show (which I don't remember which show it was) this is a new drill that my family will be doing every year, just so we know what that alarm sounds like, especially when we are sleeping!

Don't forget to change the batteries in those alarms this month too!!!!!!

So does your family have a fire drill? Have you ever tried a nighttime drill? Something to think about trying!!!!!

Monarch Butterfly Hatched

Both chrysalis opened within 24 hours of each other

These are our Monarch butterflies that we have been feeding and watching through the life cycle. They both opened within 24 hours of each other and then we released them together on Friday afternoon. Something neat that I learned this time through the process of watching these caterpillars/butterflies is that you can tell the difference between male and female and in the photo above you can actually see 1 of each. The male is the upper butterfly and th female is the lower one. If you look at the bottom wing of the male butterfly you will see a black spot on one of the lines in the wing, this is how you can tell if it is a male or not. See we really can still learn new things each day! Just remember that like the butterfly it takes a lot of time, patience and trials sometimes to become the beautiful thing that God wants us to be!

Monarch caterpiller on the move

Caterpillar in a J before going into a chrysalis

Here you can see our caterpillar on the left in the "J" shape
and another caterpillar in the chrysalis on the right.
They will stay in the Chrysalis for about 10-14 days

Our caterpillar has grown a lot since we first put a entry about the caterpillars up. So he has eaten a bunch of milkweed in the past couple of weeks. Over this past weekend we saw him in this "J" form which is what they do before going into their chrysalis. They will be in the green chrysalis for about 10-14 days and then they will emerge as a butterfly ready for a long trip to Mexico for the winter. I love to see the life cycle come into a way that kids can see it. We'll post more when it happens.

Monarch butterfly time!

It is that time of year, when the boys and I go out caterpillar hunting. We went the other morning and found a couple of caterpillars, but nothing like what Andrew and I found Sunday afternoon. We found 7 caterpillars, but the coolest thing was the size of them these are the smallest caterpillars that I have ever found and we found 4 of them. Check out the picture. Monarch caterpillars are such a neat thing for the kids to check out - the process of change that the caterpillar goes through. I will have photos of the process until these caterpillars turn into butterflies. Garrett will be doing a butterfly life cycle - check out http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ for a life cycle print out and other butterfly activities. I have found that there are adults that have never seen this change of life - I guess that I took it for granted that I had school teachers that loved the hands on learning that could be added to the curriculum. I also found that if you search "life cycle of monarch butterfly" there is a website that has time lapsed photos of a butterfly coming out of the chrysalis - very cool!

baby geese

If you have little ones that would like to see the baby geese, we noticed that there are baby geese at the Beaver Ponds that have hatched. THis is a great time to explain to kids about how birds come from eggs and then hatch out. Geese are very interesting to watch as they raise their young. Check them out if you get a chance.